One or more aspects relate, in general, to preserving the Virtual Product Data (VPD), a collection of configuration and informational data associated with a particular set of hardware or software, when certain changes are made to the system that could impact the VPD.
Preserving the VPD associated with a given system (hardware and/or software) is desirable because VPD may store information relating to the system, including but not limited to, product model number, part numbers, serial numbers, and engineering change levels and the collection and use of VPD allows the status of a network or computer system to be understood and service provided more quickly. VPD can be burned into Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memories (EEPROMs) associated with various hardware components and can be queried through attached Inter-Integrated Circuit (I2C) buses. It is used by firmware to determine the nature of the system hardware, and to shield the operation of the firmware from minor changes and variations of hardware implementations within a given machine model number, and provide control of enablement features
When hardware or software is serviced in the field, VPD can be lost and a Support Services Representative (SSR) may have to rewrite the VPD by command. Loss of VPD can occur due to, but not limited to, improper writing, replacing parts that contain the VPD, and/or because a procedure to restore VPD was not followed.